IDW TMNT Volume 1 Review

Ladies and gentlemen TF2 and Mike here before

we get into this first episode of the pull bags

back issue classics Just want to let everyone

know shredder was messing around with Joe's Microphone

or internet or something rather that's why you'll

hear static in the record. We tried to fix it

as best as possible Michael Powers from off the

cuff did an amazing job trying to clean it up

in the future the pull bag back issue classics

for the TMNT Reviews will not sound like this,

but I just wanted to give you a quick warning.

Also, this episode is dedicated to the memory

of James Avery, known as Uncle Phil on Fresh

Prince of Bel -Air, and you can also call him

The Shredder. Welcome to The Polebags Back Issue

Classics. Join us as we talk about comics from

yesteryear from DC Marvel and more. So open your

ears to hear our discussion of the older continuities

as the back issue classics are also what's in

the pull bag. Hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is our first ever back issues classics.

I am your host TFJ and Mike and joining me is

a fellow shell head Joe Reed from off the cuff.

Hello, sir. Hello. I'm excited to be here for

this topic. This is oh god. It's just been a

great year for Ninja Turtles Yeah, it has overall

the comics. I don't know well. Yeah next year

I know we're getting a new movie, but that that's

probably not a good thing Yeah Yeah, fingers

crossed fingers crossed. I don't know I it's

just one of those things where I picked up volume

one, and it was like, oh boy, it's the old art,

yay! I'm used to one of the, I'm one of those

people, I grew up with the cartoon. I knew of

the comics, but it was like, the comics are,

oh, completely and totally different. And, looking

at this, ugh, they're not multicolored, dammit,

how am I supposed to tell them apart other than

their weapons? That was I remember hearing reading

watching an interview with them And you know

they it was a black and white comic so they didn't

exactly really think right the colors, but they

said when the Animated series came out, and they

gave them all the different colors. They were

like oh that was a really good idea We totally

should have done that And then they never did

they they've always been read and even the Mirage

run all the way back So in the IDW verse they

never go multicolored you've only read the first

trade paperback. Yeah, I'm not going to tell

you Well, thank you for not spoiling it but it's

it's important it's way more important than Okay.

All right made it out. I mean that's one of the

things I read the entire run I've been getting

every issue as it comes out That's one of the

things that I admire most about the IDMU Ninja

Turtles series is that they have given meaning

to every meaningless thing that's ever come out

in any of the other versions of the turtles and

it's done it exquisitely. And even this, it's

a big thing about the colored headbands. Yeah,

yeah, I I've actually been holding off and holding

off and holding off I've heard nothing but good

things about the IDW ongoing and I've been I

think I started getting the single issues at

like 23 22 23 and I'm still getting them I just

I've held off because I wanted us to be able

to go back and and look at the trades and look

at the original issues and that's kind of what

back issue classics is all about because as we

all know if a comic is more than a week old it

is a back issue and that's really what we're

doing here this is something that we can work

on where it's we don't necessarily have to say

oh this is this month's issues or oh that's that's

this month's issues or whatever else so we can

kind of go back and go slow but yeah we're going

to be covering the first volume i'm reading it

in volume form you're reading it single issue

right yeah i've been buying a single issue since

the beginning maybe out of convenience. Someday

I might pick up the trades, but for now I've

been reading it singly, because there's no way

I could wait. I'm too big a fan. Yeah, and that's

really what it came down to with me picking up

this series in single issues. I've collected

Ninja Turtles whenever I can and whenever I had

to, and I'll be reading like volume four, and

I'll get to a point where like, you know, I'm

not really into this. I don't really want to

keep reading it, and I told the comic store to

stop pulling it. And then, you know, I get this

wild hair up my butt two years later to complete

the Mirage series, and oh, well, now I just screwed

myself, because now I have to go find all these

issues, and they're a pain in the neck to find.

So I swore when I started looking for the complete

series that if a Ninja Turtles comic is coming

out, I'm going to buy it, because 10 years from

now, I'll wish that I had. So yeah, I'm not messing

that up again Yeah, no All right, so Yeah, so

like I said, we're gonna be covering volume one

change is constant. I hate change And the the

cover copy on the back says the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles return to comics in their first

IDW adventure It's a different world for the

Turtles. The group is broken as Raphael wanders

the streets of NYC in search of food and shelter.

His brothers and Master Splinter are on the search

for him, but so far all they can find is trouble

in the form of mutant alley cat Old Hob and his

gang of criminals. The very core of the Turtles

family is at stake and the new origin of TMNT

is revealed. Join Tom Waltz, Dan Duncan and TMNT

co -creator Kevin Eastman for the start of a

wild ride. and when I first read this I was very

excited and blown away and I don't mean this

is over a year ago now that this was coming out

I think yeah yeah loved it loved it loved it

but now that I've read everything and go back

to this man this was a treacherous way to start

this book and it's good but it gets so much better

And if I were to read something like this now

after reading what I've already read, I'm surprised

that it is where it is now. But that's just to

say that they're finding their stride. They're

hitting their stride, and everybody's excited

to do what they're doing. Certain trades, depending

on which company it is, whether it's IDW, DC,

Marvel. certain trades do it a certain way and

I'm kind of used to the way DC does it with trades

as far as hey this is issue this this is issue

that and this is issue that as it goes along

what I love about this in IDW is in the trade

form it's a constant four chapter story it doesn't

say it it gives you one cover it says change

is constant with the the four turtles on it after

like the main credits and then it opens up chapter

one with the car crash and and all this and all

that in the, we'll let the car crash, but the

fight between Old Hob and the Turtles. And I

love how this is structured, where it's just

chapter, chapter, chapter, where some trades

do it where, hey, you can clearly tell where

the issue ends, where the single issue would

have ended. And I like that this is one consistent

flowing story with these trades, and that's kind

of why I'm glad I'm doing it in trade form. For

now, anyway, once you get up. Yeah, waiting for

the trade is a very, very hard thing, but sometimes

it's worth it. Well, you have your whole stretch

of books to read in one book. I mean, when I

finish something in the middle of the story,

I have to wait 30 days for the next one. No,

I know. Trust me. I do that with Batgirl and

Nightwing. It's like, oh, come on. I do that

with the other IDW series, the new animated adventures.

I wait for that every month, and it's like, oh,

come on. I've had a hard time reading that, but

I'll get into it eventually. I just need to sit

down. I look at it as in between episodes of

the series. An episode of the show could air,

and then the comic could come out. Another adventure

So I look at it that way but the art in this

is very dark That at least at least in the first

couple pages in blown away what by Dan Duncan's

art in the first it does change artists, but

That's one thing it changes artists when the

story arc changes so you get that at least consistent

whole bite of story and that's Really nice, but

Dan Duncan man if that if that guy were to draw

Ninja Turtles, and that's what Ninja Turtles

look like forever. I'm totally down with that.

The whole biting the bottom lip thing, you know,

it upset me for like 30 seconds, but now I don't

care, that's just what I want them to look like.

And Kevin Eastman's done the layouts for this,

and in fact, I think there's an issue one somewhere

where it's all just his... Yeah, there's a couple

of pages where it's just Eastman, yeah. That

would be beautiful. It's so sad that the two

of them had a falling out over creative differences.

You know, I've never heard the full story on

that, and I met Kevin Eastman at Detroit Fan

Fair a couple years ago, and I didn't have the

balls to ask him, like, what the story behind

that was. And even if you ask him, it's not like...

He's gonna badmouth the guy they they they yeah

the dollars together somehow or another but I'd

love to know what happened and What Peter Laird

thinks of Kevin Eastman coming back to the book

now with IDW? You know he's too busy scuba diving

somewhere with his buy money for selling them

into turtles So the first chat the first issue

we have a fight between the three turtles and

old hob I have no idea where... All we know is

Raphael is missing. And they're out looking for

him, and we get this fight between this Nick

Fury cat -like creature. I know Old Hob's a villain

in this series, but I'm sorry. As soon as I saw

the eye patch, I'm like, that's a cat version

of Nick Fury. What the hell? That was a villain

created for this series by Kevin Eastman. I'm

not sure why they needed to create a new villain

they have I mean they've been pulling from many

universes as the series goes on but I think he

fits it works it's um and he fills a particular

role as we find out going through this oh yeah

story and the others that are coming he fits

a role that they couldn't have found in a different

universe there's no other character that could

have played this role for the turtles and for

their family as Old Hob did. Yeah, not at all.

So we get the battle. They defeat Old Hob. The

storytelling is, the narration is really, really

compelling. It sets up the story very well. The

dialogue is really great. I just, I know you

said it'll come into play later, but when I first

read this the other day, I was like, Yeah, I

can't tell them apart. Damn it. I want colors.

I know I have to get over it for now. You're

right. If they're on the same page together,

you don't get to tell who's who, but there are

lines of dialogue that I think happen in He's

two or three where you really get to see their

different personalities and it's obvious once

they start. He uses big words and correct grammar.

Michelangelo talks about eating and partying.

It's like obvious. Yeah, oh yeah. So after the

battle we see that they have not forgotten and

we see a lone turtle with no mask in a trench

coat of all things. A trench coat and a hoodie.

Wow. I would have found this a little bit more

comical, even though I know Raph in the series,

at least to this point, is kind of like out on

the streets trying to survive. I would have found

it more comical if it was just a trench coat

and a fedora. Fedora, yeah, from the movie. Where

did they come up with this stuff? Yeah, jeesh.

And then we flash to the past, 18 months earlier.

Where we see four baby turtles in a glass jar.

Oh, I'm sorry 87 series either And we see a very

young non -channel six version of April O 'Neill

He goes back to her origins in the Mirage comic

as a scientist assistant at Stock Gen or oh,

what was it? You know the PCRI in the Mirage

series in the Mirage series at Stock Gen here

And she's very gullible at first because there's

this giant conspiracy of what kind of experiments

they're doing with this rat and these turtles.

And they don't exactly fill her in on everything.

At this point, I was kind of confused about how

old she was. We find out later in the series

she's just an intern still in college. So she's

a kid, basically, and has no real authority there.

And I was a little vague. going back into this,

but I should also say there are people we're

meeting now that are not important for 20 issues

of the book that you come back and like, oh my

god, that's who that is. And so even in issue

one of the comic, they are dropping seeds for

bombs that don't explode until way later in the

series. But there is, it just proved to me that

there is either an exquisitely woven net That

we're all going to get revealed to us eventually

or they were just kind of dropping seed and let's

figure out what that's gonna turn into later

and then they connect it so it makes it feel

like it was a giant web that's blown away having

coming back to read this and see who all these

people end up being I will say when I first saw

I I'm trying to look in the panel here for his

name, but the the scientist that's with her the

guy Chet. Chet, yeah. Chet looks like a John

Glover scientist that created Bane. I swear to

God, look at the guy. He looks just like John

Glover from Batman and Robin. Oh God, I haven't

seen that movie since it was in theater. I have

to go back. It's basically the guy that poison

ivy first kills and that's the first scientists,

but that's what he kind of reminded me of And

I do enjoy as part of the storytelling that April

loves the turtles as soon as she sees them And

she just can't stand the rat That's that's pretty

awesome. He apologized later. Yeah And Baxter

Stockman who looks like Lando Calrissian. Yes,

he does It's the mustache Is talking to a weird

-fisted Mad Cat Haven general Who we only know

as general Crang we don't actually ever at least

in this in the at least in this issue As far

as I can tell we never actually see his face

like the art as it's gone to a more lighter place

I like the the the contrast between 18 months

ago and present day because 18 months ago it's

a little bit more bright and sunny and present

day is more like oh boy we're we're down on the

dumps quite literally as Raphael is dumpster

diving yeah you're right there is a definite

change in temperature Oh, yeah. Or past, colder.

Even the color of the turtles is bluer. Mm -hmm.

I bet that was deliberate. Yeah. But he opens

the pizza box and says, damn, all's I can think

of is Mike. All's I can think of is really Mikey

from the Turtles movie when Donnie's like, hmm,

question. Yeah. Do you like penicillin on your

pizza? No. I just watched that the other day.

That's crazy. I love that movie. Wonderful movie.

I'm not embarrassed to show that to people who

are not geeks. I think that's still the highest

grossing independent film of all time when you

adjust for inflation. He thinks a cowabunga t

-shirt is just wrong That's funny Yeah, the story

is like when I I didn't think I thought this

was gonna take me a while to get into because

of And I hate to keep harping on this but because

of the no bandana on wrath and the the constant

red on the other turtles But after a while I

was it didn't take me at all to get this story

read. These four issues, I mean, they flow very,

very well. They're very well done. And the first

chapter ends with Raph breaking down the door

and helping some kid escape his abusive father.

And I'm looking at the last page of issue one

is, yeah, Raph breaking down the door. That is

a beautiful, beautiful picture. A beautiful flash

page. This is the one they spent the time to

color. Oh, yeah. Oh, it's gorgeous. The detail.

Not just on Raft, but on the walls and all that.

Oh, yeah. This is just wonderful. And for Chapter

2, Issue 2, we have Raft breaking in. He kind

of looks like a green Rocky with his fists up.

And we see a Like I said a father and his kid

and the father's a drunk and the kids just trying

to stay away from him and he's enduring one of

his beatings and Raph basically gives him a taste

of his own medicine. I Don't see I'm not I'm

not like you I've read I haven't read a lot of

the old stuff. So for me Casey's always been

either Elias codeus Who sadly has not aged well

over the years? Or you know Casey from the cartoons

I don't think I've ever seen them explore at

least in cartoon or film media Casey's Home life

is and arguably. This is a younger Casey. This

is a college -age Casey, so this isn't the adult

we saw in the film But had they ever explored

this before, this series? Yep, Mirage did it.

They kind of think. There were one shot with

The Tales of the Turtles. It was a small series

that happened during the original Mirage run,

but then when volume three and four were going,

they brought back Tales of the Turtles. It ended

up actually being the longest running Turtles

series ever. were just these villain issues and

they discussed a lot of Casey's backstory here

and there as that went through. But I think it,

you know, somebody's gonna call me out on this

and that'd be fine, but I think it has been Abuse

the Father, he escapes and decides to take the

beatings that he endured to other people. But

he's a pretty prominent character throughout

the entire Mirage Run. He's always run with the

turtles and... You know, my first experience

with him was the cartoon where we didn't know

what he was behind that mask. He could have been

covering his face for all we knew and didn't

have much of a personality, but the movie version

of him is fairly accurate, I think. The original

original. Oh man, I love movie Casey. And it's

so funny because he and Raph always, it seems

like I guess it's an old staple by now where

they are always the two to team up or two to

have the most antagonistic personalities against

each other as far as Getting along and man. Well,

I think the two of them always ended up getting

along I mean besides you know tips that rap will

get in but if the real in the antagonistic relationships

have always been between rap and Leo, but yeah,

whenever those two have a marital tip Raph goes

and runs with Casey and they go beat up people.

You know that happened in the Computer Generated

movie too. The first person he went to go be

with was Casey. So Raph throws Casey's dad out

and Raph and Casey go out and have a night on

the town looking for food and other stuff and

we get back to April. And throughout this, during

April's scenes, we see that Splinter has... and

I love how technical the name is for him, because

they're splitting DNA or they're splitting personalities,

so they just call him Splinter. That's interesting.

I don't know if it's my favorite version of how

he got his name, but it's interesting. I guess

I'm going to Splinter's name. The original Ninja

Turtles, you know the premise behind why that

book even got made? The self -financed $6 ,000

that they borrowed from Kevin Eastman's uncle

to get that book published? No. The Ninja Turtles,

Teenage Ninja Turtles, the first issue was only

ever intended to be a parody of Frank Miller's

Ronin. The cover the cover logo is in the same

fun the illustration on the cover is done in

the same style that kind of weird hatching without

outlines and Inside the book it's either Homages

to their various different comic book heroes

Kirby and and and Frank Miller and The big order

the big parallel big connection point is actually

daredevil Splinter is a play on Daredevil's mentor,

Stick. So the name Splinter and Stick was parallel

and in the original series the mutagen that gets

dumped down the sewer is it comes off of a truck

and there's a blind man that the car swerves

around and it's a kid pushing the blind man out

of the way and then the news falls down the sewer

which was always kind of a throw to Matt Murdock.

pushing the blind man out of the way and then

the ooze blinding him the minute it falls down

the sewer and it's turtles gigantic connection

and the subsequent issues of those early ninja

turtles were send ups to other different genres

when the turtles went to space it was a riff

on Star Wars when this happened there and so

I haven't seen, I haven't noticed any connections

in this book to other artists and genres and

things that it seems to get sent up to itself

in its own history, but I'm hoping that I just

don't know that there are references in this

to other pop culture things that are important

to artists. But now you know! Yes. I feel like

we just played a Kevin Bacon game. I didn't think

of Kevin Bacon, but I'm sure it's possible within

five moves to get there. Yeah, probably So we

get April again also 15 months earlier Where

splinter just? Pops in on her and gives her this

piece of paper. That's not a normal rat No, oh,

that's a CD case a little paper CD. Yeah. Yeah,

it's a it is a CD case it is I When I first saw

it I thought it was a piece of paper, but yeah,

you're right. It is a CD case And I love the

image of him before he jumps off the key I love

him sitting on top of the cage with the four

turtles in the little habitat. I think that's

awesome and Then what I can only assume are the

foot clan they break in I I don't know if it's

the foot clan or not. I assume it is but they

are there are very very early In continuity,

I don't think they've established themselves

in New York enough to have uniforms or any iconography,

but I think that's the foot plan. I remember

reading this going, not exactly sure who those

guys are because they don't have like the foot

logo or the little eye bug goggles over their

eyes. So that signified foot soldier to me. And

as soon as one of them is getting the beaker

to the eye and Splinter Clums comes up and claws

one of them, is that one going to be Shredder?

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I know the answer

to that question now, but it's still... Yeah,

I was so thinking that and then the only thing

I thought of after I saw that panel of him scratching

the guy's face and I'm thinking... Now I will

finish what I began with The real thing that

makes me that made me think that at that point

was how beautifully that panel just that panel

was illustrated Yeah, but they spent too long

on that and put too much time in the splinters

expression for that not to mean anything Yeah,

yeah, really? Yeah, it did And so the police

come ninja vanish well he doesn't say ninja but

So the unnamed foot clan ninja type people Escape

after splinter Scratches off his face and somehow

I'm trying to I'm trying to follow this Was the

mutagen already spilled? Here's what I figured

this out last night rereading this further record

here that in that bag that the foot soldier has

snatched are the four turtles and six different

vials of some kind of mutagen and that's important

because in the next panel as Splinter claws him

and causes him to drop it those six canisters

smash, mix, and that's what gets on the turtles.

Which is why the turtles are, end up being unique,

and that they can't really make more of them,

and it's also why later, in either I Can't Remember

to this Park or another one, that General Crang

is so irritated because they can't make it again,

because it was an incidental, dull -polluted,

and destroyed, and stuff with dirt on the ground,

and can't salvage it to actually... Fund whatever

to do whatever thing crying wanted to do And

then we have the the cat who tries to eat one

of the turtles So we know where old hob comes

from And then we switch back to present -day

where they are arguing over trying to find Raphael

or not whether they should just go after old

hob or keep searching for their brother because

apparently by this point they've been looking

for Raph for over a year and it's getting tiresome

and in fact the turtles don't even know Raphael

they don't remember him as far as they know Splinter's

just freaking him out and has no clue whether

or not he actually exists and Raph doesn't know

what a fist bump is So Raph and Casey hang out

and I really like it like I wasn't sure how I

was gonna feel about all this story but I'm really

enjoying this story I enjoy the art and I really

like how they're building Casey and Raph up in

this so far as far as their friendship goes.

I think that the emphasis on that comes from

Kevin Eastman being attached. I think he's always

been partial to the Casey and Raph relationship.

and could really give two rips about any of the

other turtles. It's about the one with the anger

issues, dealing with the one who helps balance

them out. Right. So... So we end with Casey and

Raph suiting up and having some fun on the way

and we see Casey's... Mask for the first time

and that's a mask some day You want to make that

mask some day? That's how at least for me that's

how chapter two ends I think that's how the single

ish man's to write the blast panels. He's putting

the mask on says let's go have some fun In my

mind it's wrapped looking at it was what you

mean you want to mud people Explain what they're

gonna do yet Yeah. But no, Casey's a good guy

and as issue three begins, they're beating up

muggers and doing the heroic thing. You purse

grabbing pukes! Yeah, so they do the heroic thing,

but I... I still wish Raph had a mask. I know

it's part of the story, but he just looks, the

image of him and Casey standing next to each

other over the purse snatcher, Casey looks awesome.

Raph just looks like he's there. Even though

he's doing the, you know, I'm going to pound

you fist move, it just looks like he's there.

So after they they defeat the purse snatcher

and they go return the purse I Was half expecting

this lady to pull out a machine gun get away

from me you monsters And they're still gonna

do the right thing and we get to a police station

there, you know leave this one to me rap I'll

go in. Yeah. Just take off the mask first, dude.

You don't want to walk in there with a hockey

mask on. Yeah. Yeah, that mask looks really,

really good. Actually, it's funny. It looks like

a white... It almost looks like a white version

of Jim Carrey's The Mask. When he pulls it off.

In the panel where he's holding it up. Yeah.

Yeah. A little bit. and so they uh so unless

you want to keep it that purse doesn't look so

cute on you man not as good as it looks on you

hey uh so that's how that scene ends and then

we pick up with the turtles training um it just

i still i know i've mentioned it so many times

in the past you know a little while that we've

been talking about this It still irks me. The

colors, it just does. The personalities are coming

out, but it's so weird for me to see Donatello's

voice coming out of a red mask turtle. The original

action figure colors taught me how to identify

them when they're flesh colored. Donatello's

always been the dull... Brownish one Michelangelo

has always been the foresty green one and we've

been the most primary lost secondary color green

Pure representation of green. Yeah, so I've luckily

always been to been able to even tell just from

this They did like I don't know where that steam

got decided, but that was it was that way during

the Cartoon before this cartoon this cartoon

currently the CG one does it so I'm thankful

that they kept that Oh yeah, it's pretty awesome.

And Splinter is telling them about underestimating

the importance of training, and they're asking

him about Old Hob, and then we go back to 15

months earlier, where Splinter totally gives

Old Hob a reason to hate them. Oh, yeah Yeah,

cuz splinter has mutagen on his claws and he's

jumping all over old He's just mutating him up

and The rat wins the cat loses and the cat runs

away. Well, it's important to note there that

splinter bites out his eye. Oh Yeah, that's right

All right, yep, that's that's Wow splinter really

does a lot of damage humans cats everybody biting

clawing faces and biting eyes out Wow What a

violent rat? So I don't know I I'm gonna I'm

gonna put this out there for you since I know

you haven't read beyond this this issue the series

yet but uh... this rat is acting awfully smart

no we know he's subject to these gene therapies

that are separating his animal instinct from

uh... what will eventually become human intelligence

you know evolutionarily speaking but this is

still just too smart for a rat and they also

have not mentioned by this point hamato yoshi

So there's there's stuff coming that I'm excited

for you to get to So we can discuss it openly.

Yeah, I was wondering about that because It's

When I first sat down to read this I was like

wait, they're going with the the movie version

where splinter was a pet rat or a Experimental

rat that's the original version Yeah, I was one

was and which blew my mind as a little kid because

I go into the movie Expecting human Hamato Yoshi.

He's a rat. What is that? That doesn't make any

sense Yeah They asked they're going with the

rat version splinter In here and boy, yeah next

story arc, dude So yeah, we see the origin of

the turtles we see them immediately grow up Well,

maybe it's not immediate because I assume time

does pass between The time where the turtles

and splinter are essentially flushed down the

drain After the foot let them go or who are supposed

to supposedly the foot let them go but the next

panel is Splinter all grown up the turtles all

grown up. Like, you know, I'm not complaining

about it. I just find it a little strange. I'm

not going to take a point off of it because of

it, but it's one of those things where I'm used

to seeing the evolution from the film where,

and I know I shouldn't just base it on that,

but the evolution of the film where Splinter

tells the story. They show the tiny rat and they

show how the turtles Doubled in size and then

obviously tripled But yeah, we go back to the

present day and They they can't believe they're

doing this again, they're going out searching

for RAF Doing what hurdles do leaving from rooftop

to rooftop? Yeah rooftop to rooftop and Apparently

Some guys stop Casey and Raph or some guy does

and Casey bats him one right in the face And

we see that it's old Hobbs gang and somehow Raph

has this Look of shock on his face when Hobb

asks him remember me Every time I see that cat

I think of Nick Fury so Basically, they they

they mix the two events they show you kind of

flashbacks of old hub as a cat his rap is is

remembering and Which is really really interesting

And then we get a knockdown drag them out fight.

Yeah, the the issue three ends with remember

me and then issue four is Is the fight the fight

and wraps wait wait, I don't What did he say

he says remembering a memory that I didn't know

I had yeah Yeah, so we begin begin we begin issue

four with the fight And then we go again 15 months

earlier to Baxter Stockman and Chet and the in

the experiments and Basically, Chet's breaking

the bad news to Baxter about that they lost the

rat, they lost the mutagen, they lost the turtles.

They lost something else that ends up being important.

I think the mutagen is ending up, there's supposed

to be like a super soldier mutagen, so that's

gone. And then there's also the human terrapin

armor exoskeleton system. It was the files that

was on the CD that got destroyed by the ninjas

earlier And that's also ends up being All of

that stuff comes back to haunt them later Yeah,

it does because um Oh and Splinter's brain serum,

too. Oh, yeah the brain serum. Yep So apparently

old hob can help them or wants to because he's

got his score to settle you know and then we

flashed to the police station where April's trying

to explain all of this the book issue for it

seems like it's moving faster than it should

Because there's so many different scenes that

it cuts to I like it. It's cool. I just I feel

like the story is going faster than what it probably

should I wonder if that was a choice to accelerate

the pace build to a climax, but I Reading it

a second time again, you know When I'm reading

that issue by issue as it comes out It can't

happen fast enough because I want to freaking

know what happens yesterday, but reading it now

it does But the pace is really quick and you

don't really get to know who the turtles are.

You don't get to really build any kind of relationship

with these people as it's moving so fast. Yeah.

So Raph and Casey are basically outmanned, outnumbered,

and Casey gets knocked out. And of course, the

big bad kitty has to tell Raph, down boy. So

we get RAF almost to the edge of a soft shell

and all of a sudden, the brothers show up. Oh,

at least their search is over. And we get this

amazing splash page. It's just really really

cool with the four of them. Just taking out almost

everybody and an old hob just kind of standing

there like what the hell is going on got these

ninja stars in my arm Yeah First a rat claw now

a ninja star what the hell I can't catch a break.

I think um Yeah, having hearing you say that

I think I need to draw this page I a side project

hobby thing I go find my favorite pages and comic

books and then Draw them on new line board and

ink them. I think this I would like this page

Because I know I couldn't afford the original

if it's ever even for sale. I'll just go make

it I Draw but I couldn't draw like this from

my own imagination. I have to steal other people's

And again, this is the age of the internet where

everything is stolen yes So dudes look, Hob's

punking out on Raphael. Hob's gonna kill him.

No wait. And it's basically... It's basically

Raph and Hob, and Raph tells him to shut up and

that'll kill him and... We have this knockdown

drag out fight with the two of them and again

the way the panels are set up Like the panel

where Raph says I'll kill you when it's the two

of them facing off and then the actual fight

Raph grabs him and pokes him in the eye That's

awesome and bites him in the arm obviously not

trained to be a ninja So, we've got Raph wanting

to kill old Hob and one of the four turtles stops

him. That's Leo. Okay. You say so. Well, he's

got swords in the next panel. Yeah, okay, yeah,

that. And he does have a sword in that panel.

Okay, all right, that's, yeah. You know so they

are so we finally see the first are well because

they finally found each other we finally see

a first argument between Raph and Leo I love

Casey. Oh, man that dude must be Oh, he does

say it I'm seeing for use right now. Yeah And

the story ends with the reunion and all four

brothers are back together with Master Splinter.

This was a really, really cool issue. Even though

I've complained and complained about the bandanas,

after I read it, I got used to it. I'm like,

okay, that's what it is. If it stays that way,

fine. If it doesn't, it doesn't. We get some,

in the trade, we get some pretty cool art gallery

shots. That's one of the reasons I want the trades.

Those are probably beautiful. I don't even know

what they are. Yep. One of them is... The left

and the right page are its pencils by Eastman.

One of them is the colors. Well, it's art by

Eastman with colors by Rhonda Pattison. And it's

just like action shots and stuff, but then you

have what I assume Wait, it is IDW. What the

heck? Were there alternate covers for these?

Yeah, oh dozens Okay, way too many and I bought

this comic more times over than I should have

Because there are three of them in this for the

trade And then it advertises it and then that's

again, that's what I love about IDW They don't

do any advertisements until the end of the story

There's an advertiser for the ultimate collection

volume one the hardcover edition one that never

bought it yet haven't bought it really The hard

part is that I bought the first 12 issues of

the mirage run so many different ways that I

really can't justify buying it again. I probably

have that six, seven, eight different times.

Yes. All right. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

I didn't go into reading the series with... Oh

my god, if it's not 87, I'm going to hate it

forever. Oh my god, if it's not the 90 film,

I'm going to hate it forever. At all. I went

into it with an open mind, and outside of the

colors, that's really my only real, like, huge

nitpick gripe, is the colors, but if you say

that it comes into play later in some awesome

way or something or other, I'll go with it for

now. I don't think you have to wait long, I think

it's the next issue. Oh, okay. So Overall volume

one the first four issues of the IDW team in

t -series. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the

story It was very well written the art it was

a little hard to get used to it first because

I'm one of those people that is used to bright

shiny not really a lot of gritty art and This

is because it's Eastman well It's not him on

art, but it's his storytelling and his way of

style and it's it's I've never seen anything

from Dan Duncan before so I'd love to find something

else by him Just because I've loved this so much

if there's it's this exquisite balance between

what looks like a gigantic black Sharpie marker

and tiny micron pens Yeah, with the coloring

that's on top of it the colors who's doing the

colors. I don't even know The colors is, let's

see here, colors by Rhonda Pattison, letters

by Robbie Robbins, layouts by Eastman, art by

Dan Duncan. Her coloring is splatters and uneven,

kind of blotchy. So it's really a noisy looking

picture, but it adds to that grittiness, that

static. but all very subdued colors for the most

part except for some of those flashbacks. They're

doing, I think with this and with a trick that

they do in the next issue, which we'll talk about

when that happens, they're really using the art,

especially the first 12 issues, to help tell

the story. It's all very much about that on purpose.

I'm reading another book right now. Guardians

of the Galaxy and halfway through the issue it

changes artists and then the next book is a completely

different artist and yeah, it's telling a story

and the story is good, but There's no concern

for that Continuity or and they're not being

able like the turtles have here to utilize the

art to help tell the story With that atmosphere

that it creates Yeah Yeah, but overall I really

really enjoyed it I'm probably gonna give it

a five which is for GCRN standards is a perfect

overall five out of five stars because the story

was well done the art is really really well done

it kind of has an old style feel to it but it's

still you can still tell it's digital art very

very awesome what about you yeah it's it's hard

for me to give it a five because it gets better

from here the the I can say this because I'm

generalizing, but by whatever issue they're on,

they have pulled from every major mythology,

and the only character that they haven't put

into the story yet, and I'm being able to generalize,

I'm sure there's other people, the only character

that they haven't brought into the series is

Tatsu from the Ninja Turtles movie, and I wouldn't

put it past them, that he'll eventually show

up. And yes, that's an exaggeration, but... The

way that it's becoming an amalgamation of everything

is really - I just can't - After reading these

first four, I just can't picture teenage Casey

going, uh, uh, you know, a little mouthful of

- How about you mess my clear that right up?

I just can't picture young Casey doing that.

You would be wise to lose your flippant ways.

Alright, well... even though we haven't met shredder

yet he decided to slice and dice joe's connection

there for a moment uh you anything you want to

pimp out when is uh geek garage sale coming up

isn't that coming up here pretty soon yeah where

i i just started talking about it on the on the

facebook uh at the new year our garage sale for

2014 first one will probably be the first or

second week of june haven't decided a date yet

you know i gotta talk to all the people but uh

but If you're a betting person, I would put my

money on first or second week of June and try

to do a second one later, maybe an indoor one.

But that keeps it growing and is incredibly fun

for everybody involved. Very awesome, very awesome.

Where can the people interact with you if they

so choose to? Haven't you just discovered Twitter?

I discovered Twitter, but then I'm not getting

anything out of it. Like I don't get what I'm

supposed to do with it. So I haven't checked

that Twitter in like three months. So no, not

Twitter. The best way to get a hold of me, and

I'm happy to hear from you anytime, is through

the Geek Stuff Garage Sale Facebook page. And

I believe that is geek -stuff -garage -sale.

I'll put a link in the show notes so people can

see. It is geek -stuff garage sale, so yeah,

I've got that pulled up and I'll put that in

the show notes. Alright, well, I'm not sure what's

going to be coming up next here in The Pull Bag,

but stay tuned, make your great escape into comics,

and have a shell of a good time. You just heard

the latest episode of The Pull Bag, GCRN's comic

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